Harriers' run of three consecutive victories was brought to an end by their former teammate James Constable whose penalty gave Oxford a fifth straight home win.

Without the injured Justin Richards Mark Yates sprung a surprise in his team selection by starting with both Darryl Knights and Stefan Moore and relegating Matthew Barnes-Homer to the bench. Harriers started sluggishly while Oxford looked like a team low on confidence and both cancelled each other out in the opening stages.

Oxford took the lead after 24 minutes; Constable chased a long ball through the middle, outpacing both Martin Riley and Mark Creighton, then just as he got into the penalty area was pushed in the back by Creighton. On the advice of her linesman referee Amy Rayner awarded the penalty that Constable himself took. Creighton was booked for his trouble and can count himself lucky not to have been sent off.

On the half-hour Harriers went close to an equaliser; Brian Smikle won the ball in midfield and sent Knights free through the inside-left channel; his chip beat Billy turley in the home goal but then hit the outside of the post. In stoppage time at the end of the half an excellent piece of ball control from Yemi Odubade allowed him to flick the ball past Keith Lowe and leave the fullback trailing in his wake before shooting over the bar.

Early in the second half Harriers finally drew a save from Turley; Moore did well to keep the ball in play on the left by the byline and pulled it back to Smikle who saw his header saved. Harriers dominated the half with the lion's share of the possession but they lacked a cutting edge in attack and were unable to break down the home defence, United defended deep and in numbers for large parts of the half.

It was not until deep into stoppage time that Harriers managed another shot on target; substitute David McDermott jinking his way into the penalty area on the left only for his shot towards the near post to be beaten away by Turley. By this time Harriers had another player thanking his good fortune that he was still on the field; Andy Ferrell picked up a yellow card for an off the ball incident in which he appeared to strike United's James Clarke; the yellow card was his fifth of the season, however, so he will face a suspension.

KidderminsterHarriers.com

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